OK, finally candled all my eggs, today is day 8.
I removed 5 out of 9 of the SLWs, 4 were not fertile, no development at all but their membranes were all in tact, no scrambling. One of them had an embryo that made it 4 or 5 days, I could see the eye was not quite dark yet and the bubble for the midbrain was large and clear. I suspect 2 others to have quit because I didn't see any movement in them, they will likely have to go before lockdown. With this much developmental trouble I am thinking there may be poor breeding practices going on. It does not look like the post office messed these eggs up, they all looked good on arrival. So, I may have to inform the seller of my findings.
I took out 3 others, they were all orpingtons. 2 not fertile and one quit about day 7, I think; really recent, I could see the limb buds and heart really well, the entire embryo was encased in a membrane.
The rest look pretty good, lots of swimming babies bouncing around! And my broody hen's eggs looked good too, she's doing a great job with her eggs.
So, the reason I could not wait to candle my eggs any longer was that today I cracked one of the eggs under my broody. I was gently coaxing her off the nest,
alright, alright, I was accosting her and pulling her out of her nest, and one of the eggs rolled and cracked onto the door.
I felt so sad. Anyway, the egg wasn't completely cracked open but I thought I could see a little bit of yolk coming through a crack. I'm not sure how bad the internal damage is. I decided to try what I've read about other people doing. I lit a candle and dripped wax over the cracks to seal it up and put it in the incubator. Tonight when I candled, 10 hours after the accident, I could see a baby moving around inside!!!!!!!
Amazing. Who knows if it can survive.
